A Hug From His Father
by DianaChristine
Summary: When Harry's invisibility cloak is stolen, it's up to him, Ron, and Hermione to figure out who's taken it... before it's too late...


A/N: I wrote this right before the fifth book came out, so please keep that in mind, obviously a bit has changed in Harry Potter world since then, but I still think it's a pretty decent story. Anyway, hope you like it :-)

**A Hug From His Father**

The school of Hogwarts slept, but Harry Potter was still awake.

Harry listened to the heavy breathing of Ron nearby, the soft ticking of Seamus's alarm clock, the steady snoring of Neville. He then felt the low grumbles his stomach was making. Harry sighed and sat up in bed. There was no way he was going to make it through the night without food.

Pushing the covers off with his feet, Harry silently chided himself for not eating dinner that night. Why _hadn't_ he eaten? He tapped his fingers against his knees, remembering. As soon as he had seen Cho tonight, had seen the new shade of lipstick she was wearing and the way she had expertly done up her eyes, Harry had promptly lost his appetite.

With no Cho to stare at now, Harry's stomach felt as though it were eating itself. Falling asleep with his body in such a state was an impossibility.

He needed his sleep, too. Harry had an important quidditch game against Slytherin tomorrow, and it wouldn't do for him to pass out on his broomstick. Gryffindor and Slytherin were currently tied for house points.

Harry surveyed his options. Did he have any chocolate frogs or Every Flavor Beans left over from his last trip to Hogsmeade? No, he and Ron had eaten them all except for a couple oddly colored beans they hadn't dared each other to eat yet. Harry supposed it wouldn't hurt to throw on his invisibility cloak and sneak down into the kitchens quickly… Dobby and the other house elves would be more than happy to provide him a midnight snack.

Deciding that this was what he would do, Harry planted his bare feet on the cold wood floor and got out of bed. Sliding his feet into his slippers, Harry reached under his bed for the invisibility cloak.

It wasn't there.

But it HAD to be there, Harry reassured himself, where else could it be? His heart dropped a little as he ran his hand over all the space and objects under his bed. His pulse quickened. It really wasn't there.

Harry heard movement behind him. He whipped his head around to see who it was.

Ron's face was illuminated in the moonlight as he yawned and sat up in bed. "Wha . . ." He spoke, his voice thick with sleep. "What's going on?"

"My invisibility cloak is gone." Harry could hardly believe the words as they left his mouth. Harry needed that cloak. It had come in handy so many times during his stay at Hogwarts that he didn't know how he could survive without it.

"What do you mean, it's gone?" Ron inquired, still not fully awake. Another yawn stretched his face.

"I mean, it's GONE," Harry said, softly enough not to wake up the others, but firmly enough to finally awake Ron to the seriousness of the situation.

"What should we do?" Ron wanted to know, his eyes wide.

"Well, first we should go down to the common room so we can talk without waking them up," Harry whispered, nodding towards Dean, Seamus, and Neville. Ron agreed and two hurried out of the dormitory, feeling terribly exposed without the covering of the invisibility cloak. Harry was still hungry, but with his prized possession gone, his priorities had changed.

They settled into armchairs in front of the lit fireplace. "Someone must have taken it," Harry realized, frowning.

"But hardly anyone knows you own an invisibility cloak," Ron pointed out. "They wouldn't know to take it if they didn't know it was there."

"Who knows I have it?" Harry wondered out loud.

"Snape," Ron said immediately. "He hates the fact that you have that cloak. And he's definitely the type to steal things."

"But I just can't picture him coming into the Gryffindor tower and into my room to get it. It's kind of creepy, I'm sure he wouldn't be allowed to go in there."

"But Snape's a teacher," Ron said. "He could have found out the password and done it while we were all at class. We can ask the Fat Lady if she's seen any non-Gryffindors sneaking around."

"There could have been another way he could have gotten it," Harry said.

"Maybe he used a summoning charm like you used in your first task in the Triwizard Tournament," Ron suggested.

"Maybe," Harry responded, still a little skeptical. "Who else knows about my cloak?"

"Dumbledore, but he would never take it," Ron said. "And me and Hermione-"

Ron was interrupted by the sound of footsteps. They froze, knowing that they weren't supposed to be out of bed so late. Harry closed his eyes. The last thing he needed was to get in trouble.

A voice filled the still air. "What are you DOING down here at this time of night?"

"Oh, it's just you, Hermione," Ron sighed with relief.

"JUST Hermione?" she replied, a little insulted. "I am a prefect now, in case you've forgotten."

"We haven't forgotten," Ron said. "We've just got more important things to think about."

"Such as?" Hermione asked, ready to hear a story.

"Somebody stole my invisibility cloak," Harry informed her.

Hermione gasped, forgetting her prefect responsibilities. "Oh, Harry, that's awful. But who could have taken it?"

"We've been trying to sort out who knew about the cloak," Ron explained. "Snape, Dumbledore, Hagrid-"

"Wait!" said Hermione, dropping into a chair. "Did MALFOY know about the cloak?"

"I reckon he did," said Harry. "Remember that time in third year when I was using the cloak to scare Malfoy and his goons in front of the shrieking shack? And then the cloak started to fall off and Malfoy saw my face?"

"It's him!" Hermione said. "He's been acting very suspicious the past couple of days. I KNEW he was up to something."

"He'd love to take that cloak from you, considering you humiliated him with it," Ron put in.

"But Malfoy would have the same problem Snape would have when it came to getting into our room," Harry said. "Even if he could find out the password, the Fat Lady would know he's not from Gryffindor."

"But we got into the Slytherin common room once, so it's not impossible," Hermione added.

"Malfoy isn't smart enough to make a polyjuice potion," Harry said. "He doesn't even have enough patience for something like that."

"Then . . . who was it?" Ron asked.

Silence filled the common room, so thick that when someone spoke, his voice split through the air: "It was me."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned to see Colin Creevey standing in the middle of the room, looking evil.

"YOU!" Ron exclaimed. "But how…?

"I don't even want to hear it," Harry hissed. "Just give it back NOW."

"Always so cold, Harry. Always so cold," Colin shook his head. "I've never been anything but nice to you. And I didn't even realize how mean you are to me until someone pointed it."

"But who?" Hermione yelped.

"You were right when you said Malfoy would love to take that cloak from you," Colin said. "He just needed a little inside help."

Laughter cut through the still air. Harry, Ron, and Hermione recognized it as Malfoy's. However, Malfoy was nowhere to be seen.

"He's wearing the invisibility cloak," Harry breathed. "Show yourself, Malfoy!"

A rustling of clothing was heard, and then Malfoy was seen taking off the cloak in front of the burning fireplace. Colin ran to join him.

"Malfoy befriended me," Colin continued. "He told me all about the cloak and how much you'd hate to have it taken from you. So I took matters into my own hands and stole it while you fifth years were all at double transfiguration."

"You fool," Malfoy said to Colin. "I was never your friend. Especially now that I have… THIS." He held up the silvery invisibility cloak to the light and stepped away from Colin as though he smelled. Colin looked crestfallen.

"Come on, Harry, we can take him," Ron said, his hands forming into fists.

"Count me in, too," said Hermione, rolling up her sleeves.

"Not so fast," Malfoy said, extending the cloak toward the fireplace. "Or the thing burns."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione froze, afraid that any sudden movement would result in the destruction of Harry's most prized possession. Colin ran from the room.

Finally Harry spoke. "Malfoy, no. Please. It was my father's."

There it was. The real reason Harry loved that cloak so much. It wasn't how useful the cloak was or how cool it was to become invisible, it was the fact that it had once rested on the shoulders of his father, a man Harry had never gotten the chance to properly meet. A man Harry longed for everyday. Having the cloak wrapped around his body was like receiving a hug from his father.

Malfoy grinned, obviously loving the power he held over Harry. His grip on the cloak loosened. An end of it started to fall dangerously close to the rippling flames.

"Malfoy," Harry repeated. He never thought he'd live to see the day that he would beg to Malfoy, and yet here he was, doing it.

"What do you want him to do?" Hermione spoke up. "Let you catch the snitch in the Quidditch game tomorrow? He will." She now realized that the cloak was more important to Harry than the Quidditch cup. "Just give it back."

Malfoy was savoring every moment of this, postponing the inevitable for what seemed like an eternity. "Let me think," he said, his lips curling into a smile. "No."

With that, he opened his hand, and the cloak dropped into the fire, sparks flying upon impact.

"NOOOOO!" Harry screamed, his heart falling through the floor. He ran to the fireplace, not knowing whether to stick his hand in and pull out the cloak or to whip out his wand and cast a spell to kill the fire. But it was too late. The invisibility cloak was destroyed.

Harry turned to Malfoy and grabbed his throat. "You're going to pay for this," he growled.

"BOYS!" A voice thundered through the common room. The four students turned to see Dumbledore running into the room, Colin Creevey trailing behind him.

Harry dropped his hand. They stared as Dumbledore caught his breath.

"Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore began. "In another house's common room in the middle of the night, destroying someone else's property. Fifty points from Slytherin."

"But sir-" Malfoy started to say, but Dumbledore interrupted him.

"Mr. Creevey here has already filled me in on the important parts of the story," said Dumbledore.

Malfoy gave Colin a look that would kill. "Colin, how could you?"

"At least Harry never pretended to be my friend," was Colin's reply, stepping towards his fellow Gryffindors.

"Mr. Creevey," Dumbledore said next. "Stealing another person's property and being out of bed in the middle of the night. Thirty points from Gryffindor. Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley, being out of bed in the middle of the night, five points each. Ms. Granger, I would have expected more from a prefect. Ten points from Gryffindor."

Harry quickly did the math in his head. Both houses had lost fifty points. Gryffindor and Slytherin were still tied in house points.

"One more matter to take care of," Dumbledore said, taking out his wand to put out the fire. Harry's invisibility cloak lay there on the ashes, seemingly unharmed. Dumbledore retrieved it and offered it to Harry. "Fire cannot destroy an invisibility cloak," he said softly. "Especially not one once worn by such a great wizard as James Potter." Harry took the cloak from Dumbledore and hugged it to his chest.

Dumbledore straightened up again. "To bed, all of you!" he ordered. "Follow me, Mr. Malfoy. I shall lead you to your own common room."

Malfoy didn't look happy at all. With one last look at Harry, he followed Dumbledore out of the room, his shoulders slumped.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Colin headed toward the staircases to the dormitories together in silence. Then Colin spoke. "Harry, I'm really sorry. I don't know what I was thinking, joining Malfoy's side. I'm just… really sorry."

"I'm sorry, too," Harry replied. "I haven't been as nice to you as I could have been. You're not a bad guy, Colin." He realized that this was true. Colin had matured a lot over the summer before his fourth year. He was no longer chasing Harry around with a camera or constantly complimenting him or acting like a groupie. Now that Harry thought about it, Colin had even told his little brother Dennis to leave Harry alone one time. Harry smiled. "It's been a long night, huh?" He could slightly understand why Colin had wanted a friend, and Harry hadn't been there.

"Sure has," said Colin. "How are you going to play Quidditch properly tomorrow?"

"Well, at least Malfoy will be at the same disadvantage," Ron said. "I reckon he'll be just as tired as you, Harry."

"We should all go to bed immediately, then," Hermione said, reprising her role of prefect. "Good night, all."

Harry's stomach grumbled loudly. "Oh, no," he remembered. "I'm starving. I'm never gonna get to sleep on an empty stomach."

"I've got your back, Harry," Colin said, tossing him a chocolate frog out of his pocket. "And there's always more where that came from."


End file.
